Advances in targeting cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterases

Cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterases (PDEs) catalyse the hydrolysis of cyclic AMP and cyclic GMP, thereby regulating the intracellular concentrations of these cyclic nucleotides, their signalling pathways and, consequently, myriad biological responses in health and disease. Currently, a small number of PDE inhibitors are used clinically for treating the pathophysiological dysregulation of cyclic nucleotide signalling in several disorders, including erectile dysfunction, pulmonary hypertension, acute refractory cardiac failure, intermittent claudication and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. However, pharmaceutical interest in PDEs has been reignited by the increasing understanding of the roles of individual PDEs in regulating the subcellular compartmentalization of specific cyclic nucleotide signalling pathways, by the structure-based design of novel specific inhibitors and by the development of more sophisticated strategies to target individual PDE variants

Phosphodiesterase 3B Is Localized in Caveolae and Smooth ER in Mouse Hepatocytes and Is Important in the Regulation of Glucose and Lipid Metabolism

Cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterases (PDEs) are important regulators of signal transduction processes mediated by cAMP and cGMP. One PDE family member, PDE3B, plays an important role in the regulation of a variety of metabolic processes such as lipolysis and insulin secretion. In this study, the cellular localization and the role of PDE3B in the regulation of triglyceride, cholesterol and glucose metabolism in hepatocytes were investigated. PDE3B was identified in caveolae, specific regions in the plasma membrane, and smooth endoplasmic reticulum. In caveolin-1 knock out mice, which lack caveolae, the amount of PDE3B protein and activity were reduced indicating a role of caveolin-1/caveolae in the stabilization of enzyme protein. Hepatocytes from PDE3B knock out mice displayed increased glucose, triglyceride and cholesterol levels, which was associated with increased expression of gluconeogenic and lipogenic genes/enzymes including, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ, sterol regulatory element-binding protein 1c and hydroxyl-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase. In conclusion, hepatocyte PDE3B is localized in caveolae and smooth endoplasmic reticulum and plays important roles in the regulation of glucose, triglyceride and cholesterol metabolism. Dysregulation of PDE3B could have a role in the development of fatty liver, a condition highly relevant in the context of type 2 diabetes

Expression and Regulation of Cyclic Nucleotide Phosphodiesterases in Human and Rat Pancreatic Islets

As shown by transgenic mouse models and by using phosphodiesterase 3 (PDE3) inhibitors, PDE3B has an important role in the regulation of insulin secretion in pancreatic β-cells. However, very little is known about the regulation of the enzyme. Here, we show that PDE3B is activated in response to high glucose, insulin and cAMP elevation in rat pancreatic islets and INS-1 (832/13) cells. Activation by glucose was not affected by the presence of diazoxide. PDE3B activation was coupled to an increase as well as a decrease in total phosphorylation of the enzyme. In addition to PDE3B, several other PDEs were detected in human pancreatic islets: PDE1, PDE3, PDE4C, PDE7A, PDE8A and PDE10A. We conclude that PDE3B is activated in response to agents relevant for β-cell function and that activation is linked to increased as well as decreased phosphorylation of the enzyme. Moreover, we conclude that several PDEs are present in human pancreatic islets

Type III cGMP-inhibited cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterases (PDE3 gene family)

Seven different but related cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase (PDE) gene families have been identified. Type III cGMP-inhibited (cGI) PDEs, the PDE3 gene family, are found in many tissues. cGI PDEs exhibit a high affinity for both cAMP and cGMP, and are selectively and relatively specifically inhibited by certain agents which augment myocardial contractility, promote smooth muscle relaxation and inhibit platelet aggregation. Adipocyte, platelet, and hepatocyte cGI PDE activities are regulated by cAMP-dependent phosphorylation. Insulin-induced phosphorylation/activation of adipocyte and hepatocyte cGI PDEs is thought to be important in acute regulation of triglyceride and glycogen metabolism by insulin. Two distinct cGI PDE subfamilies, products of distinct but related genes, have been identified. They exhibit the domain structure common to PDEs with a carboxyterminal region, conserved catalytic domain and divergent regulatory domain. In their catalytic domains cGI PDEs contain a 44 amino acid insertion not found in other PDE families. The expression of cGIP1 and cGIP2 mRNAs differs in different rat tissues, suggesting distinct functions for the two cGI PDE subfamilies, i.e., cGIP1 in adipose tissue, liver, testis and cGIP2 in myocardium, platelets and smooth muscle

Identification of promoter elements in 5'-flanking region of murine cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase 3B gene

We describe techniques for identifying functional promoter elements in the 5'-flanking region of the murine cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase 3B (mPDE3B) gene. The 5'-flanking region of the mPDE3B gene was cloned and sequenced, and putative transcription factor binding sites were identified with computational tools. A series of reporter plasmids containing the luciferase gene fused to different fragments of the 5'-flanking region of the mPDE3B gene was constructed and used to transfect 3T3-L1 fibroblasts or differentiating adipocytes. Reporter gene assays showed that there are two promoter regions in the 5'-flanking region in the mPDE3B gene: a distal region located approx 4 kb upstream of the translation initiation site that contains cAMP-response element (CRE) cis-acting elements, and a proximal region that is GC rich and lacks TATA sequences. The distal promoter region induced much higher luciferase activity than did the proximal one. Mutation of the CRE sequences or reversal of the orientation of the CRE-containing region abolished promoter activity of the distal region. Electrophoretic mobility shift assay analysis indicated that binding to CRE elements was greater in nuclear extracts from differentiating adipocytes than from fibroblasts. Mapping of transcription initiation sites suggested that the distal promoter region might function as an enhancer, whereas the proximal promoter drives transcription of the mPDE3B gene

Adenovirus-mediated overexpression of murine cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase 3B

To construct the recombinant adenovirus vector containing the cDNA for recombinant mouse cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase 3B (mPDE3B), the cDNA for mPDE3B was subcloned into pACCMV.pLpA. Subsequently, this recombinant plasmid, pACCMV.mPDE3B, was cotransfected with pJM17 plasmid containing the adenoviral genome into 293 human embryonic kidney cells, and the replication-deficient adenovirus AdCMV.mPDE3B was generated via homologous recombination. Large-scale preparation of adenovirus yielded 10(11)-10(13) viral particles/mL and could be quantitated by real-time polymerase chain reaction using iCycler (Bio-Rad). Efficiency of gene transfer was assessed by infecting FDCP2 or H4IIE cells with a recombinant adenovirus expressing beta-galactosidase (beta-gal); greater than 75% of cells were infected. Expression of mPDE3B in H4IIE hepatoma cells, FDCP2 hematopoietic cells, and beta-cells from isolated pancreatic islets was detected by Western blot analysis. In lysates from FDCP2 cells and H4IIE hepatoma cells infected with recombinant adenoviral mPDE3B constructs, mPDE3B activity was increased 10- to 30-fold compared with the activity in lysates from cells infected with beta-gal adenovirus. Stimulation of FDCP2 cells infected with mPDE3B adenovirus with insulin (100 nM, 10 min) resulted in an approx 1.7-fold increase in endogenous PDE3B and recombinant wild-type PDE3B activities. Infection of rat pancreatic islets resulted in a 5- to 10-fold increase in PDE3B expression and activity and subsequent blunting of insulin secretion. Thus, adenovirus-mediated gene transfer is effective for studying expression and regulation of recombinant PDE3 in insulin-responsive cells as well as insulin-secreting cells

Insulin stimulates hormone-sensitive cyclic GMP-inhibited cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase in rat brown adipose cells

AbstractThe presence and regulation of a hormone-sensitive cyclic GMP-inhibited cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase (cGI PDE) in rat brown adipose cells was investigated. cDNA clones for two cGI PDE isoforms, cGIP1 and cGIP2, have been isolated. Using a rat cGIP1 (RcGIP1) cDNA probe, RcGIP1 mRNA (∼5.3 kb) was detected in Northern blots of both brown and white adipose RNA. cGI PDE was detected in both microsomal and plasma membrane fractions of brown and white adipose cells by Western blotting using anti-RcGIP1 peptide antibody. When cells were incubated with insulin before membrane preparation, cGI PDE activity in the microsomal fraction was increased by 2- to 2.5-fold within 10 min. Isoproterenol also stimulated the activity of cGI PDE in the microsomal fraction by 1.5-fold. In cells incubated with both insulin and isoproterenol, microsomal cGI PDE activity was similar to that in microsomal fractions isolated from cells incubated with insulin alone. These results suggest that the hormonal regulation of cGI PDE, presumably a cGIP1 isoform, in rat brown adipose cells is similar to that in white adipose cells

Stimulation by insulin of a serine kinase in human platelets that phosphorylates and activates the cGMP-inhibited cAMP phosphodiesterase

We previously reported that insulin stimulation of human platelets induces serine phosphorylation and activation of the cGMP-inhibited cAMP phosphodiesterase (cGI-PDE). Here, we describe methods to detect and partially purify an insulin-stimulated cGI-PDE kinase (cGI-PDE ISK) from lysates of platelets incubated with insulin. Incubation of human platelets with 10(-8) M insulin increased cGI-PDE ISK activity two-fold. The DEAE-Sephacel-purified cGI-PDE ISK phosphorylated the cGI-PDE on serine in a time- and concentration-dependent manner resulting in an increased incorporation of about 0.2 mol of [32P]/mol of cGI-PDE and 15-20% increase in cGI-PDE activity. The phosphorylation of cGI-PDE was not affected by 10 microM PKI, 1 microgram/ml of heparin, 3 mM CaCl2 or 1 mM MnCl2. cGI-PDE ISK did not adsorb to antiphosphotyrosine antibodies. To maintain its activation it was necessary to add protein phosphatase inhibitors to the lysate-buffers. All of these findings are consistent with the conclusion that a serine/threonine phosphorylation of the cGI-PDE ISK is involved in its activation by insulin